Python interface to Bluetooth LE on Linux

This is a project to provide an API to allow access to Bluetooth Low Energy devices from Python. At present it runs on Linux only; I've mostly developed it using a Raspberry Pi, but it will also run on x86 Debian Linux.

The code is tested on Python 2.7 and 3.4; it should also work on 3.3.

There is also code which uses this to talk to a TI SensorTag (www.ti.com/sensortag).

An example to interface the Nordic Semiconductor ASA IoT Sensor Kit, Thingy:52 is available in thingy52.py (https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/Nordic-Thingy-52).

The code needs an executable bluepy-helper to be compiled from C source. This is done automatically if you use the recommended pip installation method (see below). Otherwise, you can rebuild it using the Makefile in the bluepy directory.

To install the current released version, on most Debian-based systems:

$ sudo apt-get install python-pip libglib2.0-dev
$ sudo pip install bluepy

On Fedora do:

$ sudo dnf install python-pip glib2-devel

For Python 3, you may need to use pip3:

$ sudo apt-get install python3-pip libglib2.0-dev
$ sudo pip3 install bluepy

If this fails you should install from source.

$ sudo apt-get install git build-essential libglib2.0-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/IanHarvey/bluepy.git
$ cd bluepy
$ python setup.py build
$ sudo python setup.py install

I would recommend having command-line tools from BlueZ available for debugging. There are instructions for building BlueZ on the Raspberry Pi at http://www.elinux.org/RPi_Bluetooth_LE.

Documentation can be built from the sources in the docs/ directory using Sphinx.

An online version of this is currently available at: http://ianharvey.github.io/bluepy-doc/

This project uses code from the bluez project, which is available under the Version 2 of the GNU Public License.

The Python files are released into the public domain by their author, Ian Harvey.

Release 1.3.0

• New getState() method for Peripheral class
• New exception structure / error reporting (#311, #317, #326) BTLEException now has subclasses BLTEDisconnectError, BTLEManagementError, etc. which report an error code and error message passed up from the lower layers, where appropriate.
• Partial merge #311: aids to debugging; bluepy-helper reports version; fix crash
• Partial merge #311 and #302: pair() and unpair() now supported
• Fix #169: 0-byte characteristic writes are now supported
• Merge #302: OOB data now supported
• Merge #312: better comments on sample code in docs, better scanner example
• Fix #292: Unicode string decoding errors in scan data
• Merge #308: don't ignore sensitivity option during discovery
• Merge #301: fix Peripheral documentation
• Fix #286: return list of services from Scan entry

Release 1.2.0

• Merge #245: Update underlying Bluez version to 5.47
• Merge #284: Readme updated with Fedora install instructions
• Merge #283: Fixes for passive scan interruption
• Merge #275, fix #259: non-ASCII device names now don't break decoding
• Fix #263, #278: return UUID in scan results
• Merge #262: Return correct address type in passive scan

Release 1.1.4:

• Further attempts to fix #158. setup.py rewritten.

There was no release 1.1.3 made

Release 1.1.2: now deleted

• Re #158: Try to make PyPI installation more robust
• Merge #214: add passive scan support
• Merge #213: Add Thingy:52 support

Release 1.1.1

• Workaround #200: remove -Werror from Makefile
• Fix #191: generate BTLEException not ValueError, if helper is killed
• Fix #189: error calling getCharacteristics() when Service has no characteristics
• Workaround #192: Use make -j1 explicitly

Release 1.1.0

• Merge #180: Peripheral.connect() can now take ScanEntry object (like constructor)
• Merge #162: Add build_ext builder to setup.py
• Merge #166: Fix crash in getServiceByUUID()
• Fix #148: Add UUIDs for declarations (e.g. 0x2800 = Primary Service Declaration)
• Fix #28: Sensortag accelerometer values now scaled properly
• Merge #89: Add support for descriptors
• Fix #157: make 'services' a property
• Fix #111: make parameter names match documentation
• Fix #128: Characteristic.write() was missing a return value
• Read battery level on Sensortag
• Formatting/style fixes (#170 and others)

Release 1.0.5

• Fix issue #123: Scanner documentation updated
• Fix #125: setup.py error reporting on Python 3 if compilation fails
• Fix for issue #127: setup.py fails to rebuild bluepy-helper

Release 1.0.4

• Scanner now available as bluepy.blescan module and 'blescan' command
• Fix example scanner code in documentation
• Python 3 installation fixes
• Fix issues #69, #112, #115, #119

Release 1.0.3

• Now available on PyPI as bluepy. Installs via pip.

Release 0.9.12

• Support for CC2650 sensortag
• Documentation fixes
• Bug fix: DefaultDelegate has a handleDiscovery method
• Bug fix: keypress now works with both V1.4 and V1.5 firmware

Release 0.9.11

• Minor consistency improvements & bug fixes
• Scanner now has getDevices() call
• Docs updated

Release 0.9.10

• Now with Scan functionality

Release 0.9.9

• Now based on Bluez r5.29
• UUIDs held in separate JSON file, script added to update from Web
• Added setup.py and init.py for use with setuptools
• Allows indications as well as notifications
• Bug fixes (see pull requests #46, #48, #35)

Release 0.9.0

• Support for Notifications
• SensorTag code now supports keypress service
• Bug fix for SetSecurityLevel
• Support for Random address type
• More characteristic and service UUIDs added

Release 0.2.0

• Sphinx-based documentation
• SensorTag optimisations
• Improved command line interface to sensortag.py
• Added .gitignore file (github issue #17)

Release 0.1.0

• this has received limited testing and bug fixes on Python 3.4.1
• fix for exceptions thrown if peripheral sends notifications

Release dated 2-Jul-2014

• expand AssignedNumbers class definitions
• add getCommonName() to UUID type, returns human-friendly string

Release dated 14-Apr-2014:

• make btle.py useful from the command line
• add AssignedNumbers class

Release dated 12-Mar-2014

• add exceptions, and clean up better on failure

Initial release 19-Oct-2013:

The following are still missing from the current release:

• Unit test
• Peripheral role support